Lucy Snape and the Half-Blood Princess (Book Six)

Captivating Complications

Chapter 14: Captivating Complications

"What should I wear, Dean?" Lucy sighed as she looked into her wardrobe in her room. She was trying to find an appropriate outfit for Slughorn's dinner party. Dean was sat on the edge of her bed with Angus on his lap. He had become quite fond of Angus considering he was rather scared of him when the two first met. It was un-common for Angus to make friends with people. 

"It doesn't matter what you wear, you'll still look pretty!" Dean smiled. 

"Aww," Lucy said, all flattered. "What are you going to be wearing anyway?" 

"What would like me to wear?" 

"Have you got a suit?" 

"Plenty." 

"Well then, there's your answer. How about you go and get changed into a suit down in the guest rooms while I find something to wear." 

"Yes, of course!" Dean stood up and placed Angus on the bed. "Goodbye, Angus!" 

Angus purred in response before Dean left to go and get changed. As soon as Dean had left the room there was a knock at the door. Lucy looked up from her wardrobe and saw Snape walk in. He was holding something behind his back. 

"Yes, dad?" Lucy asked. 

"I heard you were having trouble looking for a dress," he said before revealing a turquoise coloured dress with pleats. 

"Oh! Thank you!" Lucy gasped and took the dress from her father. 

"Don't thank me, thank Jessica. She knows where to get these sorts of dresses, she even told me she'd like to help re-stock your wardrobe." 

"She's very much entitled to look for dresses that she thinks I might like, I'm not overly fussy," Lucy shook her head. "That is of course if she wants to." 

"I'm sure she'd be delighted to, she tells me she's always wanted to buy someone plenty of clothes and see them wear them." 

"What are you implying?" 

"Nothing. She's just a giving person," Snape shrugged and Lucy smiled. "What?" 

"Only a little while ago you would have said the complete opposite and would have started insulting Jessica! Who are you and what have you done with my father?" 

"We can change, can't we?" Snape asked with an innocent face. "We can dismiss our old image we have built for our self and make a new one, can we not?" 

"I never said change was bad it's just...it's rather peculiar how you seem to have taken to her all of a sudden." 

"I had a change in heart, I have only just discovered the facilities she is offering us but I have been too blind to take them." Snape sighed. "Lucy, have I ever told you how lonely I feel sometimes?" 

"But you have me, don't you?" Lucy's shoulders slumped. "I thought that hole of emptiness was filled when you found me?" 

Snape placed a hand on her shoulder. "By a great deal, I cannot deny that in any way." 

"Then what are you trying to say?" 

"I'm saying that nobody has ever loved me before, not even your mother. I loved her but I don't think she loved me as much as I loved her, besides she had Potter. She had Potter to love and there was no one in return to love me." 

"So you're saying that you love Jessica?" Lucy gasped but Snape fell silent. "Dad, that's...great!" 

Snape snapped out of guilt. "Are you sure?"